The Zombie Ritual: A Second Coming (Novella)
The first two chapters of The Zombie Ritual: A Second Coming (105pps) are under the link to the pdf. Unfortunately, the store is not functional right now, so if you want a copy, just email me at jcorryjr6@gmail.com.
When a zombie outbreak puts a teenage dance party to a bloody end, 16-year-old metalhead and philosophy enthusiast Chuck Zelmer finds himself in a graphic, though thoroughly academic chase through the halls of the luxurious Bed and Breakfast where the party took place.
Reviews:
"Not really sure if this is a good zombie story or an introduction to philosophy! Interesting concept and good writing." Goodreads reviewer
"Even for philosophy this is convoluted." -One-star Amazon reviewer
One: Drives, Wives, and Conflicting Vibes
“Shut the FUCK up, Gene! You’re ruining the song!!!”
It was The-Day-Before-the-Fourth-of-July, and Chuck’s dad had Bruce Springsteen on the stereo– but Chuck wanted nothing to do with it. He’d only heard his dad yelling as he was in between songs on his IPod (‘Regurgitated Death’ and ‘Baptized in Blood’ offa Death’s Scream Bloody Gore). Chuck had discovered Death Metal a few months prior, and while it wasn’t the only factor in this angsty, just-before-senior-year teenage gothkid phase he was then enslaved by, what-was-nice-about-it was that it blocked out just about any other fucking noise in any given enclosed area (like a car?), including, but not limited to: crying infant brothers and middle-aged men com-plaining about problems they couldn’t even understand anymore.
:(
Chuck’s dad turned up the music.
♪♪♪
“Richard,” said Chuck’s mom from the passenger seat, “the baby is already crying–”
“You hearing this, Chuck?!” Chuck’s dad YELLED. “You’re gonna LOVE this shit when you’re older!”
They were halfway through their hour-and-a-half drive to Northern California. By this point, the scenery was very much forest-laden, with tall, bright oleander and coral trees along the sides of the highway. Chuck did his best to avoid conversation, but even death metal has its occasional quiet-pretty part–
His phone went off; it was another text from his GF (girlfriend). They’d been together for Two Full Months, and had even done hand stuff:
‘omg bae I am so stoked =D =D =D <3’
Chuck smiled.
X)
‘me too boo :) <3’
4
‘=D you got my sparkling raspberry vodka right?’
‘Of course lover =D I texted Paul the moment you asked me <3 <3’
‘I LOVE YOU SO SO SOOOOO MUCH!!! <3 <3 <3 =˚’
‘Love you too baby :) <3 XP’
‘and none of your parents know?’
‘nope they’ll all be gone the whole night at some yacht for the 4th won’t be back until Sunday morning I still can’t believe how cool Rufus has been like he promised not to tell any of our parents and the ballroom is gonna be closed off to the entire rest of the complex during the party’
‘the WHOLE party??? :O’
‘yea’
‘OMG!!! =D thats so awesome bae’
“–Chuck, are you texting Helen again?”
His smile dissipated into dust and ash like the Dying ant BURNT alone amidst the deepest (!) and hottest (!!) fires in all of Stalin’s hell (!!!)– as his mother turned around.
“How often do you talk to her every day?”
“Excuse my tone, mother,” Chuck said. “But I don’t believe that to be any of your goddamned concern–”
“CHUCK! Language!–”
“Your mother is right, son,” his dad interrupted. “You need to start caring more about your future. You’ll be heading off to college next year. This is no time to be wasting your life away with some high school fling-bitch, let alone listening to that crazy heavy metal noise as
5
it’s if at all better than Springsteen or the Bee Gees –God, I love the Bee Gees–”
“It’s not crazy,” Chuck said. “In fact, it’s far more musically interesting than any of that shit you listen to–”
“Chuck! Again! LANGUAGE!!! Are you fucking serious right now?–”
“Hey, we’re all entitled to our own opinions,” Chuck’s dad again interrupted. Then he went back to singing and occasionally gazing out his window and tapping his hand on its bottom. (‘I want to know if love is wild, babe, I wanna know if love is real…’[1])
Chuck fired back: “But Mom, Dad’s talkin’ shit!”
“I don’t care. I’m your mother, and your brother is in the car–”
“They’re only words!–”
“Words grow!” and she turned back around to face frontward. “Like people. I don’t expect you to get that now, but you will as you get older, trust me…”
“Under command a new-born child
Submerged in blood, the dead they smile
Growing possessed, burning inside
A bloody feast for us tonight”
–Death, ‘Baptized in Blood’[2]
TWO: Family, Hesitated Future, Intro to the Theory of absolute Absolutes/True Relative Opposites, Intro to the Circle of Forms, Relations to ‘Becoming’, Plato’s Absolutes (Phaedo, Phaedrus), Plato’s Absolute Reality (Parmenides, Phaedo, Timaeus)
Chuck’s extended family was pretty wealthy. For over twenty years, his Uncle Kam owned the luxurious ‘Northern CA Bed and Breakfast’ to which Chuck and his family were then headed (name for marketing purposes), complete with five floors, over a hundred rooms, and a ballroom that could match that of the biggest and most luxurious in all of lower Manhattan! It was huge (‘YUUUUUUUUGE!’), located in the middle of a forest in beautiful Northern CA (though Chuck never noticed anything but the bugs). Only a short >ten-minute drive from several different bustling towns, it even had one of those classic ‘oldè’ style dirt roads as the only path leading in-or-out of the place from the main road about a mile out.
Chuck had been to his uncle Kam’s BNB a good several times throughout his life, but this was the first in over three years, the longest he’d gone without visiting. Every couple of months, Chuck’s extended family–most, or all, twenty-nine of them and counting–would meet up for holidays, birthdays, etc. Until the year previous, Chuck got very much along with all of his aunts and uncles, and his G-Dad (or: G-Pa; whatever) was the one who’d turned him onto Jung, Nietzsche, Hegel, Plato, and MLK Jr. by the time Chuck was only twelve. Then came the Gothkid.
Upon parking, Chuck anxiously exited the car. He glanced at the eight 60ft. high Greek columns on both sides of the BNB’s main entrance as he helped his dad with the luggage out the back.
“We were starting to worry that you weren’t coming!” his Uncle Sean SHOUTED as he approached Chuck and co. “Everybody else is already settled in.”
Chuck’s dad: “We took the scenic route–”
“How ya doing, Chuck?”
He shook Chuck’s hand, drew him in for a hug. Then he moved onto Chuck’s parents, to whom he did this same thing (intro, handshake, BIG hug), before asking: “So how did the appointments go yesterday?”
Chuck’s dad: “Great. I think it’s a great alternative to the vaccine,” and he pulled another bag from the trunk. “Natural, organic, not tampered with by greedy bloodsucking demon-scientists; what more could you want?–”
“They’ve only just found it in the Amazon a mere week ago,” added Chuck’s mom. “It is truly, truly incredible–”
“Yea, I’ve heard a ton about it,” said Sean. “I’ve had some friends say they’re doing it for their kids as well, quite a number of them. In fact, just judging from how quickly it’s been distributed throughout the country, it almost makes you question the intention…”
Chuck’s mom: “Although I believe it has yet to be approved by the FDA?–”
“Pft!–”
“You’ve heard the stories,” said Chuck’s dad.
“I have,” responded Uncle Sean, “but I’m not too sure of their legitimacy–”
Richard: “Neither am I,” and he stopped unpacking to face Sean directly, finger sternly pointed. “But I know something is wrong, and I know that part of fixing any problem involves taking chances...”
Lifting his HEAVY bag out the trunk, the rest of Chuck’s family walked up, including several of his cousins.
“Yo, what up, fam?” said Paul.
They fist-bumped.
“Not much, homie–”
“Hi, Chuck!!! How are you?!”
Chuck almost dropped his bag as one of his younger cousins, Terry, ran up and gave him another BIG-ass hug that he didn’t return. Chuck was in the middle, age-wise, of his cousins– Andy and John both being two years older, and Kelly: three. He then had seven more, younger, cousins–Terry being one of them at age eleven–and his two best friends on the planet (aside from Helen, of course) were his two cousins Shannon and Paul, who were both the same age as Chuck, give or take a few months. Paul had short, brown hair–skinny motherfucker–smoked a ton of weed, but remained sharp at all times, and Shannon was a Beautiful Blonde– clearly a future sorority headmaster the month before she walked onto campus a year hence, and was already working her ass off for countless charity events and organizations.
Shannon reached Chuck’s person, and gave him yet another– fucking hug–
“So, how’s Helen?” she asked afterwards.
“She’s good–”
“I still can’t believe you’re dating her, man.” –Paul, looking around to see if any of the parents were eavesdropping on their conversation.
Chuck: “Why?”
“She’s just so–”
“We can’t believe you’re dating anyone is what he meant to say.” –Shannon.
Terry: “That was mean!”
Chuck: “She’s right–”
“Oh, stop,” Shannon said. “I just mean you’re too young to be spending so much time with one girl, especially when you’ve been dating for only two months and haven’t even had sex yet–”
“Yea, that’s totally what I meant to say, like, heh,” said Paul. “You guys are still kids. How can you know what ‘looooove’ is if you’re only a kid ha-ha?” and he gave another awkward chuckle before adding: “Right?–”
“I actually think she’s really cool, like, as a person,” Shannon continued, before quietly laughing to herself for a moment, and saying: “Terry, do you remember when she sang that cover of ‘Epiphany’ from Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street the last time they were over?”
Terry, her eyes closed, one hand on her heart, the other to the sky, ‘mock-opera’ sang: “And I’ll NEEEEVVVVEEERRRR see JOHAAAAANNNAAAAAAAAAAAAAA–”[3]
“You’re just jealous she’s so hot–”
“Oh, no, I’m not jealous of that,” and Shannon lowered her sunglasses to reveal her BIG blue eyes, and winked at him like she knew what he was really thinking. Then she ran off to greet the rest of Chuck’s family.
Terry followed her.
Paul: “Everything is set, dude.”
He’d finally finished scoping the area. Apparently, he’d formally decided that the parental coast was all clear, or as clear as it would be– all the parents were far too interested in hearing about Shannon’s new ‘Hungry for the Homeless’ endeavor to be paying attention anyway.
“Yea?” Chuck responded. “I wanted to make sure before I invited anybody.”
“Oh yea, dawg,” Paul said. “We even got Reggie the DJ the whole night, and Rufus agreed to keep the kitchen open.”
“Holy shit! That’s awesome! Rufus is the man!”
Chuck WHIPPED out his phone, texted Helen:
it’s on!
so excited! AAHH!!! <3
<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3
===============DDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
“You’re not inviting anyone from last time, right?” –Paul.
“Oh! No…” Chuck said. “I uh... I don’t hang out with them anymore–”
“Well, good. Country sucks balls, and we have more than enough dumbass rednecks here with no brains as it is–”
“Tha’ fuck you just say?”
The speaker of that last quote, Chuck’s older cousin Kelly, walked up, speaking as she went.
“You know I’ve listened to nothing but country since I was five, and I’m about to get a master’s in neuroscience?–”
“What does that have to do with music taste?” –Paul
“What does that have to do with being a dumbass redneck?”
“Potential.”
Kelly waved him off, gave Chuck another–
Fucking hug.
“Tha’ fuck’s the matter with you?” Kelly said when he didn’t hug her back. “Too cool to hug your oldest cousin?–”
“You know she’s in college, right?”
This new speaker, Chuck’s older cousin John, walked up behind Kelly, and ‘playfully’ punched Chuck in the arm, Paul (harder) next.
Paul: “Ow,” as he nursed it.
“Did I see you guys online making fun of a guy in a wheelchair a few days ago?” Kelly asked.
John: “Oh, here we go–”
“It was a joke,” Paul sneered. “Dude beat his girlfriend, he deserved far worse than what we gave him–”
“Are you still seeing Helen?” Kelly ignored.
Chuck: “Yea–”
John: “Bro, you’ve been with her for sooooo loooong, man!”
“I mean, with those dimples, I can’t imagine you aren’t getting at least some opportunities at that fiiiiiiine pussy grabbin’ I know is available at your high school. Or that you won’t over the next year–”
“I think it’s cute–”
“Shut up, Kelly,” John replied. “You haven’t had a boyfriend for more than a night since you were twelve.”
“Oh, you’re exaggerating–”
“Even Shannon had a nice Christian boy under her thumb for a few weeks back in May, and she didn’t even have to ‘nail’ him or anything!–”
John was very proud of his sister for this; put both hands on his hips with a wide smile to express it.
“And she’s like a goooodddddaaaammnnneddd suuperhero when it comes to work ethic and the intricate relationship between political theory, intellect, and individuality in our ever-growing perceivable yet-still-psychologically-evolving physical and meta-physical universe–”
Paul: “He was quite under her thumb though–”
John: “Chuck’s gotta expand his horizons if he wants to be a philosopher when he grows up–”
“I don’t wanna do that anymore, man.”
“Tha’ fuck you just say, bitch?–”
“I said it’s boring and I don’t wanna do it anymore–”
“Then what do you want to do?–”
“If you say play Death Metal for a living,” said Kelly, waving a finger. “I’m taking back all the positive things I’ve ever said about your whore girlfriend–”
John: “Who the fuck are you, Kelly, his ‘relationship probation officer’?–”
“No, I just don’t like her is all. I mean it’s her fucking fault that he’s all obsessed with that demon music now anyway, instead of worrying about his studies–”
“That’s bullshit,” John said. “Chuck, don’t listen to this slut, all she listens to is what’s on the radio–”
Kelly: “That’s because what’s on the radio is nice and simple, and I don’t need music to make me think. Unlike some of us, I do enough of that on my own–”
“I didn’t get into Death Metal because of Helen!” said Chuck. “I got into Death Metal because it’s awesome, and because the shit they play on the radio has no depth or reason for existence outside economics, or as potential fuel for conspiracy theories. Besides, if anything, I got her into Death Metal–”
“You gonna fall in loooooove, bro-dawg?” said John. “Bang for the first time in the ‘Nicest Chapel Under the Stars’ right after the most amazing and romantic wedding ceremony in the history of existence? Fuckin’ prude–”
Paul: “He’s right–”
“I dunno…” Chuck mumbled.
“What about kids?” John said, suddenly turning very serious. “She talkin’ ‘bout havin’ kids yet? You got the papers? CHUCK! I’m serious about this; I’ma need some proof before I beat the living shit outta your dumb ass for ruining your life–”
“Shut up, John. They’re only kids,” said Kelly. “It’s young love,” and she rustled the shag on Chuck’s head. “We’re all looking for it–”
“Pft– You’re looking for it. I like getting’ my dick wet and makin’ that caaaassshhh money, sucka! Hahahaha…”
John put Paul into a headlock, started playfully punching him in the ribs. Chuck could tell that, once again, it did, in fact, hurt Paul quite a bit.
“Are you listening to this, Chuck?” Kelly asked her cousin.
“Yea, I’m hearing it,” but Chuck was lying. He got all hung up on that looooove talk, and this new idea then entering his head: that society was unequivocally invested in watching his innocent youth CRUMBLE like the bad meme it was always made out to be in the mainstream media #ReciprocalSex. ‘Why do they want me to fail?’ he thought to himself.
‘Are they just total jealous-ass-bitches? Pissed off because they lost whatever this is at some time, or at many times; or because they SOLD OUT when they were my age, when they gave in to all those ‘suckas’ telling them that there was something wrong with being in love, and that not caring about anything but love was somehow detrimental to a progressing civilization?
‘What’s a future, not just without #Love[4], but without loving, as its own idea–like a type of ‘love-becoming’, if you will–as well[5]’ he went on in his head, but then he realized that he’d never thought anything like that before, and he shut himself up for a moment. Even just the day before, Helen made some joke about #Love, and Chuck laughed at it. They were both pretty stoned, but they laughed real hard. Was he having this ‘change of heart’ because he was actually falling in love with a person now, and not just the ideas in his favorite books or idols, or the riffs, beats, and lyrics in his Favorite GG Allin lullabies and serenades #BiteItYouScum[6]?
Shannon was likely right to suggest a potential for change after Helen and he had finally done the deed– both of them were ‘virgins’, and they were both very excited to try out that whole ‘sex thing’ they’d always heard such horrible things about. But, as everyone asks, at any age, regardless of the politics: ‘Would sex change the relationship’? Was it really all that ‘complicated’ #ShoutOutToAvrilLavigne? Moreover, if it did end the relationship, would that mean that they weren’t truly in ‘loooove’ before?? Or would it mean, in a more grand/societal context, that they weren’t kids anymore, in that they were no longer willing to so easily give up individuality (or: the moment) for the sake of the greater good (which has gotta be some type of love, right?), without simultaneously losing that knowledge that nothing could ever take away that individuality, even after such a #ComplexDecision had been made?
‘Why should I give a fuck about love now? It’s only an idea[7],’ Chuck thought when he came back around. ‘Half the world is starving or in some kind of terrible situation, and most people think they are (appropriately miserable), even when they aren’t. What could #TrueLove have to do with anything if even God is incapable of employing it on any generalized grand scale? Or: if people would rather get drunk on #Yolo[8] than let God challenge them, or than let ‘that challenge’ challenge what they think they know of God, or of the universe, or happiness, or love– or anything!– or of how all those things interact, or relate to one another?...
‘Or whether ‘hate’ isn’t ‘love’s ‘Absolute’ ‘Opposite’??’
o.O
‘I can’t recognize how hate could be the opposite of some-thing so grand and #TooComplicated as love, or as people so often seem to make love out to be; #Hate is so inherently simple and closed. Considering the Byzantine Conundrum[9] #TheByzantineConundrum implied by the uncertainty principle in quantum mechanics[10] in relation to simple opposites by the thinking faculty[11], #Love must have some type of other opposite if it were to be as powerful as certain ‘sects’ make it out to be– or as ‘I’ make it out to be.
‘Love as an entity, or as a #SimpleForm[12], could not Exist without an opposite, yet I cannot easily pinpoint one, even after hours of contemplation, without ignoring its possible[13] opposite being that loving previously mentioned, or a love regarding itself simultaneously as both an individual and a societal ‘emotion’ or ‘relative fact’[14]; something like a more #ComplexForm[15]…
‘But this could not be the case because individual love and societal love are both still coming from the same idea (#Love[16]), ignoring the obvious opposites of the original, more ‘simple’ love vs. this new, more ‘complex’ love? We need opposites to understand concepts. Without that #Relativity, one could not tell black from white, up from down, etc.[17]
‘Plato argued that there are certain Absolute truths[18]. Many disagree. Could #TrueLove be the only Absolute ‘truth’, in that it has no immediate Relative opposite? Because, as its own complex Form masked as simple, it is infinitely open-minded, and, therefore, encompasses even Relativity itself? Or, based on its necessarily higher degree of ignorance of all things beside itself (because, without that, it would be too complex to comprehend (or: Exist?) in focus (in this reality???)), could it be the ultimate, final argument for a potential #AbsoluteRelativity? As some kind of absolute-relative opposition to Plato’s #AbsoluteReality[19]?
‘When people talk about love vs. being in-love–or: loving–what would be the Relative Opposite of loving? Or when we talk about Death vs. being-Dead, or: Dying? Life and Death theoretically cancel each other out–there is no living and being-Dead at the same time (o.O)–but living and Dying imply a time factor (moving-time). Could this imply destruction of simpler Forms, from these other spheres in time, under the umbrella that is the most complex Form[20]? As Plato said in Phaedo[21], all Opposites in this life come from one another: life from Death, man from woman, and potentially vice-versa; it’s that Absolute Relativity thing. But if that were true– which I currently feel it is (that thing about not knowing black without white, life without Death, decent people without judgmental, assuming pricks, etc.) being proof)– it would not imply mere (Simple) Opposites, or even relative ones, but, rather: a sort of circle– a Circle of Life in this case, while simultaneously, however, ignoring a circle of life’s apparent opposite, one more complicated than simply ‘death’, though one still retaining both Simplicity and Complexity the Circle of Life does, that being: a Circle of Death.
‘These two #Circles (life and Death) are part of the same #Complex process, or at least a more complex process than those issued by simpler Forms, which is what makes them Absolute–or closer to an (defined?) Absolute truth– or: more of a relatively absolute Absolute[22]– a Relative absolute Absolute. In this case, the first ‘absolute’ of the term: because we are talking about them as entities within themselves, and not from a personal, or Relative, point of view; the second ‘absolute’: because we are talking about many entities (and (Simple) Forms)[23]; and generally Relative because the two imply one another, and need each other, in order to Exist–in fact, needing of all Forms, of all caliber (so: including ‘Simple’, ‘Complex’, ‘absolute’, ‘Absolute absolute’ (and its variations), and ‘Overseer’ (and its degrees))–in order to Exist–
‘But, as this circle[24]– any circle– is ignoring the mere poss-ibility of its own destruction, of its own deletion, its birth– it still being mimicked as ‘Simple’ in this circumstance (also: any circumstance where any ‘definition’ must be made), and Simple being what it necessarily can’t be, any ‘circle’ inherently being a Complex Form (because it’s a fucking circle, after all #DontBeSuchASquareDawg)–this is still underdeveloped. Is this where life (Simple/singular) versus a kind of Dying-life (that is, a Complex Form constrained by time or by contradictions (in this case those contradictions being a com-bination of the form of one thing (life), in Thought as a mental faculty[25], and its Opposite Form (in this case, Dying, as opposed to Death, which would be life’s Simple Opposite), as an Action, or Will #Becoming) through the will[26] as another mental faculty) come into play?–
‘Can this circle of Absolute Absolutes, this overseeing focused/unfocused infinity of the web of life and thought in all of Existence– advanced or otherwise– that perceived divine inter-pretation!– coming from a different sphere– one unknowable in this life![27]– be a way of canceling out Forms or concepts? Or, perhaps much more so, those circles of complexities and #Byzantine-Conundrums which have always ruled over man’s thought, preventing us from becoming– THE DIVINE!– we so perceive as such a Simple Abstract only as lost or as found as it can be readily perceived or destroyed??
oo.OOOOOOOo
‘And is this all still occurring under the ringleader I just coined #TrueLove earlier? Or #TIME?!?! Even the Absolute Abso-lutes?!?!?!?!–
Chuck looked across the parking lot to his dad and thought of his G-Pa/G-Dad, or what-the-fuck-ever. Chuck’s G-Pa/Dad/dude/ person/thing spent over forty years after the war teaching the fourth grade before retiring and becoming a full-time ‘philosophy’[28] writer. Guy was very progressive politically, liberal out the ass, and very, very– Catholic.
‘It’s certainly bigger than them,’ he continued, referring to those who judge and acquiesce to terror before actually thinking about things[29]. ‘Those who choose to ignore thought for an #Absolute and total replacement by the Will in the singular sense–a type of #Singularity[30] in itself being more necessitated and inherently unquestionable than any other Form or kind of Form–or vice versa: those who revel in that need of a subjectively relative viewpoint[31]. If they don’t see the Absolute Absolute in the Quantum Relativity that is the infinitely complex concept-in-process which rules over all thought, will, judgment, evolution and being–in #Time (so: different than ‘in life’ (or: undefined time in Plato’s Absolute/Eternal Reality))–run by those quantum mechanics in which man could never–almost by definition (right now, at least (Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle))–fully understand–which is the beauty of it!–do they succumb to the vortex which implies that never-ending #CircleOfLifeVersusDeath?–the simple deletion–or: of living life as though one were already Dead? Simply because of Death’s implied possibility??? And the implied possibility of its implied impossibility’s implied possibility of inevitability?’
Chuck put a finger in his chin dimple and squinted his eyes…
ooOoOOooOo.OOooOOOOOOOooOOO
‘But is this just yet another way of getting ‘stuck’ in the Circle?’ he eventually came to #LEAVITALONEDUDE!. ‘Just another way of finding oneself Comfortably Numb in that boundless Tornado of Souls that so ‘consciously’ comprises the difference between the Dying life and the living Dead?...’
Chuck shook his head and closed his eyes as he faced the ground. In the corner of his ear, he heard Kelly blabbering on about some fucking thing involving dancing shadows on a cave wall she’d seen in some dream she’d had the other night. Chuck had only heard her tell this story about a billion freaking times, but whatever.
‘Fuck these fuckers,’ he finally decided, ‘they don’t know; they don’t know shit about me. They don’t know shit about SHIT about the future- about music, Plato, time, #Time, Forms, love, political correctness, or #TrueLove; they don’t know shit about shit about SHIT…’
He closed his eyes TIGHTER.
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‘They don’t know, they don’t know, they don’t know…’
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